Let Me In
by lauren diane
Summary: A night of honesty for Elizabeth and Ric.


Ric Lansing slowly ascended the stairs in front of him. He took them one by one, examining the scuff marks and imprints as he passed. It was amazing how every person who had ever taken these stairs contributed to the outlook of them. He wondered if he was the only person who noticed this small detail.  
  
As he landed at the top of the staircase, he stopped. He didn't know if he could go through with this. He didn't know if she would give him the chance to explain, anyway. The last time they spoke she told him she wanted nothing more to do with him, and she seemed serious. But he had to try. She was the only reason he was feeling so damn guilty about everything that had happened. She opened a part of him that he'd forgotten about when his family did. He didn't think he could ever love again after his wife died, but he loved her. He had to explain why he did what he did. She had to understand.  
  
His entire body was numb when he reached her door. He stood there for what seemed like a lifetime with his hand raised, ready to knock, but he couldn't force his hand to follow through with the motion.  
  
When he was about to turn around and walk away, the door swung open. Elizabeth Webber stood on the other side. She had on black, leather pants that hugged her legs, and a tight, white T-shirt that exposed her midriff. Her long, leather jacket hung over her arm, and her hair was pinned on the top of her head, spiraled pieces falling in every which way.  
  
When Elizabeth say Ric standing at her door, she froze. He wasn't wearing his usual suit and trench coat. Instead he was dressed in relaxed boot-fit Levi's that hung nicely on his side divots and a blue, ribbed dress T-shirt she convinced him to buy from JC Penney last week.  
  
"No, you don't get to be here, Ric." Tears started to form in the corners of her eyes. When she found out about him and Carly, it hurt so much. It reminded her of finding out about Jason and Courtney, and catching Lucky with her sister. She thought that Ric was different. He promised not to hurt her like they had. But what does he do? He does the exact same thing. "I'm leaving. So if you don't mind, please do the same."  
  
She closed the door and pulled out her keys. Her hands were shaking so bad that she couldn't find the right one to lock the door.  
  
"Elizabeth, please. You have to hear me out. You have to let me explain." She had to understand that the man that did what he did was a different man then the one she knew. The man that hurt her was one driven by pain and hate. Elizabeth saw the real him. He had to convince her that he loved her.  
  
"No, see Ric, I don't have to do anything when it comes to you."  
  
"Then please, Elizabeth, let me explain. I'm begging you to hear me out. I need you on my side." He wouldn't have survived this long without the love and support she has given to him over the past few months.  
  
"What do you need me to hear? That you're sorry for hurting me? That you will never do it again? I've heard it all before, Ric. I'm not interested." Right when Elizabeth had found the right key to lock her door, she dropped them. She bent down to pick them up at the same time that Ric did. He tried to grab them, but she yanked them from his grasp. "No! I don't need your help." The tears started to drip over her bottom eyelid and streak down her face.  
  
"Elizabeth, please don't cry." Ric reached over and dabbed the tears off of her face with his thumb.  
  
Elizabeth closed her eyes and focused on the feel of his strong hands softly brushing her face. When he tried to pull her to him, to rest against his warm body, she shoved him away. "No. I can't do this again. Ric.god Ric, you hurt me."  
  
"I never meant to hurt you. It wasn't supposed to get as far as it got."  
  
"But it did." She wiped the remaining tears from her cheeks and put a fake smile on her face. "You know what though? It's okay. I'm fine with it. I just wish you would have told me the truth when I came on to you. When you said that you wanted to take things slow with me, you should have just said that you were really saving yourself for Carly. I would have understood. I'm used to getting passed over for blondes."  
  
Ric's heart started to ache. He was the one who did this to her. Sure she had a smile on her face, but he knew her too well. He knew that underneath that smile was a breaking heart. And that was his fault. "It wasn't like that, Elizabeth. I don't like Carly like that. Hell, I don't even like Carly."  
  
That hurt more than anything. "But you still chose her over me." Her tears started to fall again. "You chose to kiss her, and hug her, and make love to her instead of me."  
  
"No, Elizabeth, that's just it. I didn't."  
  
"What?"  
  
"I didn't sleep with Carly."  
  
"God, Ric. How stupid do you think I am? You were there when Sonny told me and you didn't deny it." She hated Sonny for telling her. She didn't want to know. She preferred thinking that Ric loved her and wanted to be with her.  
  
"I couldn't deny it with Sonny there. I had to make him think that I slept with Carly. But I didn't. She was too drunk to remember anything, so when we woke up together she just assumed we had." Ric hadn't been thinking clearly that day. He was so angry with Sonny, and he wanted him to pay for what he had done. He used Carly, who was innocent, to hurt his enemy.  
  
"Wait. Why would you do that? Why would you make a married woman believe she cheated on her husband?" Elizabeth hated Carly, but no woman should have to go through something like that.  
  
"Because, I had to make Sonny pay for what he took from me. And the only way to bring him down was to separate him from the two most important people in his life: Jason and Carly. And I did it. Jason is with Courtney against Sonny's will, and he thinks that Carly cheated on him. Now he knows what it's like to be separated from the people he loves most in this world. Now he knows how I feel." Ric covered his face to block the tears that began to fall. When he lost his wife and children, his world had ended. Only recently had Elizabeth shown him what it was like to live again. And now he's lost her, too.  
  
Elizabeth slowly walked to Ric's side. She pulled his hands away from his face and wiped his tears away. "Tell me what happened to you, Ric. I want to listen."  
  
Ric opened his eyes and looked at Elizabeth. Her warm smile made him feel like there was a chance for them after all. "I was married. Her name was Lana. We had two beautiful children, Lexie and Ben. They went to the grocery store one day, and never came home." Elizabeth ran her hands through his hair. She gave him a glance that urged him to go on. "See, there was this warehouse down the street from the store. The kids went down there, while their mother was shopping, to play. The building was owned by a guy named Arnold Markson. He's big into organized crime. He was also close to Luis Alcazar."  
  
"Alcazar? The guy who."  
  
".was pushed from his balcony at the PC Hotel. Yeah. Well, Markson, on Alcazar's orders, had blown up a warehouse of Sonny's about a week before my kids were there playing." His eyes started to water as he continued with the story. "Sonny had planted a bomb in that particular warehouse that day. My wife went to get the kids, and the whole thing exploded. Markson was there that day as well. He was upstairs in his office. I blamed Sonny and Luis for my loss, so I went after Luis first. I tried to get close to him, so I could destroy him. But he found out what I was up to and had me put in prison. A year I rotted away in the place contemplating ways to make them pay for what they had done to me.what they had taken from me. When I was released on Alcazar's orders, and told to come to Port Charles I saw it as my opportunity."  
  
Elizabeth interrupted, "Did you.I mean, Alcazar. Did you."  
  
"Kill him? No. I wanted to. I was there that night, and I was ready to do it. But someone beat me there. So then I went after Sonny. I've been trying to make him pay ever since I came to this town. When I first met you, at Luke's, I was there following Sonny." His tears started to fall more rapidly. "I had to make him pay for what he did to me."  
  
Elizabeth pulled Ric to her and started to run her hands through his hair and down his spine. "It's okay. I understand. It's okay." When Elizabeth thought that Lucky had died, she wanted revenge. She knew what it was like to lose her soul.  
  
Ric lifted his head up to look into her eyes. "I can't lose you, Elizabeth. I can't. You let me in and let me love again. I can't lose that."  
  
"You won't ever lose me. I love you, and I'm not going anywhere." Elizabeth pressed her tear-covered lips to his. He returned her kiss and pulled her close to him. They both knew they would never have to be alone again.  
  
~*~the end~*~ 


End file.
